Detail Page

This Java applet allows users to interactively explore various specimens as they appear under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Choose from a cockroach, pollen grain, a diatomic molecule, a gecko foot, a jellyfish, and more. Users first adjust the focus, contrast, and brightness of the specimen to optimize its appearance. Then they use a slider to incrementally increase the magnification up to 10,000x.

It is part of a much larger collection of optics and microscopy materials developed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.

Standards (2)

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version)

3. The Nature of Technology

3A. Technology and Science

3-5: 3A/E2. Technology enables scientists and others to observe things that are too small or too far away to be seen otherwise and to study the motion of objects that are moving very rapidly or are hardly moving at all.

11. Common Themes

11D. Scale

6-8: 11D/M3. Natural phenomena often involve sizes, durations, and speeds that are extremely small or extremely large. These phenomena may be difficult to appreciate because they involve magnitudes far outside human experience.

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